Chamber and committees

During 2007, the Scottish Government carried out work, in partnership with the Carbon Trust, to establish the feasibility of installing microgeneration at selected buildings on the core estate. Initial surveys have been completed for Saughton House in Edinburgh, Cameron House in Oban and Strathearn House in Perth which have highlighted a number of opportunities to be investigated further. Further surveys were also undertaken at Victoria Quay in Edinburgh, Longman House in Inverness and Meridian Court in Glasgow to explore opportunities for incorporating microgeneration as part of ongoing maintenance projects.

In 2008 the Scottish Government will participate in the Carbon Management Programme through which the Carbon Trust provides technical and management support and guidance to formalise an action plan aimed at delivering carbon emission reductions. The plan will focus on the built environment including where microgeneration can be introduced to reduce the carbon emissions relative to our building operations.

The Scottish Government welcomed a report, published on 5 February, from the Renewable Heat Group of the Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland. Ministers will consider its recommendations carefully in developing an action plan for renewable heat, which we expect to issue later this year.

The Scottish Government is developing a tool to assess the carbon impact of all government spending in Scotland. This tool will be based on the guidance recently issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on how to value greenhouse gas emissions in government appraisals using the Shadow Price of Carbon. Further information on the Defra guidance is available at:

www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/research/carboncost/index.

The parliamentary statement on waste policy in January announced the Scottish Government's intention to review the National Waste Plan. The statement also indicated that as part of this review the government would consult on new targets to reduce the amount of commercial waste that goes to landfill.

Work on the development of a carbon impact assessment tool is at an early stage. We are in discussion with the Sustainable Development Commission and considering what other organisations can assist us in this work.

Paragraph 2.1.2 of the current National Waste Plan says: The proximity and self-sufficiency principles require waste to be dealt with as close as possible to where it is produced. It is European Union policy that individual Member States should deal with their own waste, avoiding export to other countries. Scotland aims to follow this principle. However, it is acknowledged that dealing with all waste within Scotland may not be possible and may not always be the best solution. Scotland also aims to follow the proximity principle as far as possible at area waste planning level, although there may clear benefits from joint infrastructure solutions between areas. (http://www.sepa.org.uk/pdf/nws/guidance/national_plan_2003.pdf)

As indicated in the parliamentary statement on waste policy on 24 January, the government will include material in the National Planning Framework to reflect the government''s priorities on waste. In addition, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) are producing revised guidelines on energy from waste plants, to reflect the need for high efficiency plants. SEPA are also responsible for the licensing of waste management plants. Guidance on waste technologies can be found on the Waste Technology Data Centre website, which has been supported by SEPA. http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/wtd/.

The government''s intention is that energy from waste plants should have efficiency levels of at least 60%. However, the government recognises that in some cases developments such as planned housing or factories to take the heat generated by the energy from waste plants may not be in place when any plants start to operate. In these cases, the government would expect the operators of the plants to have clear plans in place to use the heat once other developments are in place. The operators would, of course, be expected to develop facilities capable of utilising waste heat at the outset.

The previous administration, in Technical Notes relating to spending reviews, used a definition of recycling, including organic waste which is composted, contained in the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997. This definition is that recycling means the reprocessing in a production process of the waste materials for the original purpose or for other purposes including organic recycling but excluding energy recovery.

Yes the Scottish Government does intend to agree specific targets on waste with each local authority, principally to ensure that each local authority diverts sufficient biodegradable municipal waste from landfill in order for Scotland to meet its EU Landfill Directive obligation in 2010 and also to ensure that each local authority contributes to National Indicators 39 (amount of waste going to landfill) and 32 (ecological footprint) within the Scottish Government''s National Performance Framework.

Scottish Government will seek to ensure that local authorities contribute towards the National Performance Framework by agreeing local outcomes to be included in their single outcome agreements (SOAs).